For each of the last three seasons of Alex Cora's managerial tenure with the Red Sox -- 2019, 2021 and last year -- a familiar script would play out each spring training.
A reporter would ask Cora the identity of his closer, and Cora's answer would always be the same: "You'll see on Opening Day.''
The response was part cheeky and part a reflection of the reality he faced. The truth was, Cora didn't have an experienced closer to which he could turn. One year it was Brandon Workman; another it was Matt Barnes. But neither had established himself as an experienced shutdown weapon in the ninth inning, and neither finished the season in the role.
Now, there will be no mystery about who will close for the 2023 Red Sox.
Breaking through a week of inaction, the Red Sox Wednesday pounced and signed veteran closer Kenley Jansen to a two-year, $32 million deal. The deal was first reported by ESPN.
Jensen, 35, has 391 career saves, second among active relief pitchers in the big leagues. He led the National League with 41 saves last year while pitching for the Atlanta Braves. Previously, he had spent 12 seasons with the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Jansen gives the Red Sox a bonafide closer for the first time since Craig Kimbrel in 2018. Kimbrel is first among active pitchers in career saves with 394. Jansen is a three-time All-Star who has recorded 33 or more saves in every full-length season since 2014.
He becomes the third free-agent reliever the Sox have signed in the last two weeks, following lefty Joely Rodriguez and righty Chris Martin.
The addition gives the Red Sox a suddenly stellar bullpen, with Martin, John Schreiber, Tanner Houck, Matt Barnes and Rodriguez positioned to set-up for Jansen.
The Red Sox bullpen was a disaster last season, finishing with a 4.59 ERA, ranking them 26th in the major leagues. Nine different Red Sox relievers notched saves in the 2022 regular season, but none recorded more than eight saves. The team had 28 blown saves -- only five other clubs had more, and four of those clubs had more save opportunities than did the Sox.
Earlier this week, Red Sox chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom was asked how much emphasis he was placing on finding a reliever with closing experience.
"When possible, you'd always rather have that experience,'' said Bloom. "I think that's always a plus. That said, it doesn't mean you have to have it in order to do that job. As we've looked at reliever candidates, we've looked at guys who we think have the talent and mindset to do it. It would be great to have someone with that experience. But even if not, the important thing for us is it's something they're capable of doing because it's something we need to do well.''
As baseball continues to be driven by analytics, the value of a high-priced, set closer has been debated. Many executives question allocating an eight-figure salary to a pitcher who might not top 70 innings in a season. Further, there are countless examples of pitchers emerging out of nowhere to claim the job, often at a fraction of the price of the more heralded closers. In 2013, the Red Sox won a World Series with Koji Uehara, the fourth reliever to be tried in the role that season.
But the appeal of an experienced closer to lock-down ninth-inning leads has never really gone away. Until this past year, the New York Yankees counted on Aroldis Chapman, the highest-paid closer in the game, while the Dodgers had deployed Jansen in that capacity for a decade -- from 2012 through 2021.
The presence of Jansen gives the Red Sox' bullpen something it has lacked since late 2018, when Kimbrel was with the club: structure.
In 2023, there will be no fretting about matchups or waiting to see how the last few innings unfold. On the vast majority of games, Jansen will be entrusted with getting the final three outs -- period.
From there, Cora and pitching coach Dave Bush can work backward. They can choose from among Martin, Schreiber and Barnes to get them to Jansen and the ninth.
Even during his age-34 season last year with the Braves, Jansen showed he could still be a dominant late-inning weapon, averaging 12 strikeouts per nine innings with a superb 1.047 WHIP.
Like Hall of Fame closer Mariano Rivera, Jansen relies mostly on his cut fastball, which he throws about two-thirds of the time. His four-seam fastball isn't the weapon it once was, but Jansen still averaged 94 mph with it last year. And while his ERA was somewhat high in 2022 (3.38), his expected ERA was more than a run lower at 2.34, ranking him in the 97th percentile in that category.
The Sox reportedly outbid the San Francisco Giants and division rival Toronto to get Jansen.